1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a riding mower equipped with a vehicle frame that is supported on the ground by a pair of left and right front wheels, and a pair of left and right rear wheels; and an operating unit and a drive unit mounted on the frame.
2. Description of Related Art
The riding mower described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 2004-236641 is provided with a front frame, a rear frame, and an engine mounting frame included in the vehicle frame. The rear end of the front frame, and the front end of the rear frame are coupled via a coupling bracket, while the rear end of the rear frame is coupled to the engine mounting frame with the rear-wheel drive unit (a type of transmission) acting as a mediating structural element. In addition, to secure the supporting columns in the rollover protective structure (ROPS), a supporting column base part is provided on the rearward frame. In this kind of frame structure, the frontward frame, the rearward frame, the rear-wheel drive unit, and the engine mounting frame are connected in this order lengthwise along the vehicle body. The rear-wheel drive unit is built into the frame structure as a mediating structural element and therefore the coupling structure is complicated.
Given the above described circumstances, what is desirable is a riding mower where the rigidness of the vehicle frame is reinforced without having to use the transmission housing and the like directly as configuration elements in the frame structure.